Spontaneous Fungal Peritonitis in Egyptian Patients with Cirrhotic Ascites

Gohar, Noha M.; Abu Sarei, Reham S.; Marzouk, Hanan A.; El-Beshlawy, Mohamed M.

doi:10.21608/ejmm.2019.282429

Spontaneous Fungal Peritonitis in Egyptian Patients with Cirrhotic Ascites

Document Type : New and original researches in the field of Microbiology.

Authors

¹ Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

² Department of Endemic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

10.21608/ejmm.2019.282429

Abstract

Background: Spontaneous fungal peritonitis in liver cirrhotic patients is considered a serious complication with a grave prognosis. The available data describing this entity are still deficient, however they all stress that early diagnosis and proper management is essential to decrease mortality. Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the incidence, characteristics and predisposing factors of fungal peritonitis in patients with cirrhotic ascites. Methodology: Ascitic fluid samples were collected from 141 Egyptian patients with cirrhotic ascites. Ascetic fluid specimens were subjected to direct microscopic examination, bacterial and fungal culture. Results: Sixty one patients were diagnosed to have spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP), eight of them were culture positive SBP and E. coli was the commonest organism to be isolated. A single case of spontaneous fungal peritonitis (SFP) was detected caused by Candida albicans. Child-Pugh C, high MELD score and high bilirubin level might be among the risk factors of development of SFP.

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